The Gorge

The finest gorge in the state will soon close to vehicular traffic. It's rubble shrew tank trap of a roadway will be converted to a pedestrian only walk way, which will no doubt address the erosion problem (not to mention the chipped tooth / broken back from the  drive down this highway to hell)... I guess i understand this course rather than building a real road although it means harder longer hikes for fisherman and really no difference for bikes or walkers. It does mean being away from your gear (food / drink) on those hot days, but ok progress marches on…

You would think I would head there for a "last fix" before the road was closed (yes I am that lazy) but I assume that everyone else gets the same news I do –via the net-. So ever the contrarian, I headed off a different way to seek out new water (it was about 15 miles further than my old home water and about the same distance as the gorge).  The area is spectacular with soaring cliffs and fall foliage in full bloom.  I found this place on the maps about 2 years ago but could not see how the river was fed in the summer. In any case it was to far off the track to be of value otherwise someone would have mentioned it by now.

Although there is one formal parking at either end of the short stretch of water (it is only a few miles) I try to steer clear of lots for many reasons. Mostly b/c I was driving to fast to make the turn on the first one, and the 2nd was packed (which generally means to many folks on the water or worse hikers who ask question like "wotcha dooin?" and the old stand by "any luck?". Either way I found a small pull out which could have been a spot and suited up. It was cold & grey & should have been perfect but for most of the day I went without a bump and I only saw one fish. But this was the finest freestone water I had been on south of the WB of the Ausable.

All this was ok, b/c for the most part I was fishing well and alone for most of the day.

At one point after over an hour of working down into one major cascade I found a baiter paralleling me on the road and he set up where I was obliviously working down to. I uncharacteristically “roughed him off” with aggressive casting and after a few moments he got the idea. Although I actually felt bad (he was technically there first). All the water i fished was first rate but no fish (well 2 very large sunnies). Neither of us connected with anything in this idealic spillway and although he left, he later returned I thought it was bad karma on my part apologized and he actually felt bad that he "road hopped" me to the spot I was clearly going for (so they do know we are there?).

On my last run of the day, I was heading back down through some rough water, with deep fast pockets and long tail out at the bottom. I resorted to my gaudiest flashy sparkle green woolly bugger which has proven it self so many times I wish I had bought a few more… In any case I got hung up as I did about 20 times earlier that day only in this case the hang up eventually moved. Now granted it has been a while since I fished for decent sized, powerful autumn fish, but this was something else. It was not spooked or felt the need to flight  or rush away; in fact at first I thought it might be a otter or another creature (but not a fish with this kind of pull). The train then took off downstream and given the difficulty in wading and the frailty of old 5 year old 5x tippet (man I am a cheep bastard), I did not think I could afford to not to at least start to work my way down stream JIC (just in case), as there was no way to horse him back up to my position.

This was an unusual fish, first she never broke the surface or jumped even once and 2nd it was 15 minutes before I saw even a hint of a dorsal tip. It was more than 20 minutes before I saw the full extent of this fish which by now had taken me to the flatter water with a large weed bed on one end where I thought for sure I would loose it.

I have not carried a net for many years I am sure my brain is less concussioned (?) as a result, but in this case it was clear I would not be able to lift this fish from the water by the "gossamer string" I had him on. I worked the fish back & forth away from the weeds and into the one fast corner hoping to tire it. After about 25 minutes what came to hand was far & away the largest rainbow trout I have taken in NJ this or any other year. But the amazing thing besides the size & girth was its fins, they were “all” perfect; this was not a hatchery fish 4, or even 5 or 6 years ago. There must be an underground route from from he aquafier from which this fish emerged for a fall feed. I swear it was 23”, but after the fight it was too spent for me to revive and I took my only fish of the year home to eat. I would have been upset if I witnessed some else take a fish this size back to his car but, well…

By the time I got him home it only taped out at 22.5”, I actually think it shrunk a bit on drive home. It was tough to fillet a fish this size, but it was a delicious fresh rainbow trout.

Oh... did I mention, all this was on a 3wt?

There is still time before the leaves fill the streams, so grab your rod and hit the water, you can sleep over the winter.

Slappin Wooley Buggers

If you want to catch trout you need a delicate presentation / you need to be careful wading / you need to have drag free floats / you can't repeatedly cast over skittish fish & every thing needs to look natural...

Bull -

 

When the season is right, just grab a bugger and slap it just above the tail of any pool or across the stream in almost any rock grotto (outcrop) and bang, fish on... In the next few weeks as the days shorten the fish will be very aggressive and on the feed, so get em' while they are hot. But bring your waders b/c unfortunately it seems that here in the northeast at least, the season has ended for wet wading (it is just to numbing).

 

Another hot spot is the base of a waterfall or decent cascade. Try to get the bugger (muddler) as close to the falls (the churn) as possible. Let the fly swing into the deepest part of the pool, a steady slow swing should do it. I caught one of the best brookie of the year this past weekend, with a mouth that could eat an apple and all the fall color you could want.

The single biggest square tail i have ever taken was at this time of year (not with a bugger but with a muddler). I slapped the most skittish pool and watched this goliath rise, look and then pass on my fly. Generally once this occurs your chances reduce to about zero over the next few casts but on the 3rd pass he was alert and followed the fly and with a pounce was on it. The water was low & clear so i watched the entire drama unfold and once hooked i naturally assumed i would never be able to hold or land such a fish so the pressure was off me and in time he came to hand. Imposable size for such water and that he could not break me off or get away made this all the more magic.

For a short while about 6 seconds i thought about keeping him for dinner or even mounting him but then realized he / she? would be the main source of new fish in this entire river providing 10 or 100 times as many eggs as a more  typical brookie and it was really not that hard to let her go. I do wish i had a camera b/c no one would believe this was a native from this water.

Get out of here & go fishing...